My Very Own English Gentleman我与说英语的绅士的奇遇

Yesterday I went to eat at a xiabu xiabu restaurant near my home. Xiabu xiabu is a type of hot pot restaurant where there are long counters that wind around the store and each seat has its own hot plate to hold a pot of spicy oil to dip food into.

In need of a relaxing study break, I had brought my tablet and was watching Arrested Development when the waiter tapped me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said. “The gentleman across the row wants me to give you his card.” He handed me a business card – always use two hands! – and I looked up. A tired looking man and his assistant were seated across from me. He flashed me a smile.

All of a sudden all of my girlhood dreams flashed through my mind. I had always imagined one day I would be at a fancy European restaurant, and the waiter would saunter over to my table with a bottle of red wine wrapped in a handkerchief. As the band played softly in the background, he would tell me the handsome gentleman at a table across the room sends me his regards. The future would seem a bright and endless field of flowers.

But then I returned to reality. The fancy Continental restaurant was actually a loud hot pot place in Beijing, and instead of a string quartet, Chinese pop music whined through tinny speakers.

The man spoke. “I am looking for English teachers,” he said in English, very slowly. I glanced at the card. Apparently he owned an English tutoring company nearby. “You should come visit us sometime,” he said. “You can teach English. We pay good.”

Part of me wanted to believe him. But the other part of me knew how this would end. Things would be magnificent at first, but soon we would start to argue, myself saying I had given him everything, all my time and my energy, and he would say I was not good enough for him, and why should he give me my money? I would leave, embittered and heartbroken, knowing that all along it had only been my pale skin that had allured him, and nothing else.

So instead, I nodded, thanked him, said I would think about it, and went back to eating my food. I will not be easily seduced by men who act fancy by passing business cards along through waiters at xiabu xiabu restaurants.

昨天，我在我家附近的一个呷哺呷哺餐厅去吃饭。呷哺呷哺是一个火锅店，店里的柜台很长很长，在商店里围成一个圈，每个座位上都有自己的热点板块，盛有锅底和辣油用来烫食物的火锅。

在学习之后为了轻松一下，我带来了我的平板电脑，看＂发展受阻＂的时候，服务员拍在了我的肩膀上。

“不好意思，先生打扰您一下。”他说。 “坐在您对面的那位绅士要我给您他的名片。”他递给了我一张名片，一直是用两只手！我抬起了头。一个看起来很疲惫的男人和他的助理坐在我的对面。他对我闪过一个微笑。

我关于少女的梦想突然闪现在脑海里。我总是想象有一天我会在一家豪华的欧式餐厅，服务员会漫步到我身边，拿着一瓶红酒垫着白手帕。在乐队演奏的轻音乐的背景下，他会告诉我在房间里坐在另一桌的帅气绅士对我表达他的问候。未来似乎是一个充满希望和无尽的花朵的地方。

但后来我回到了现实。花哨的欧式餐厅却是一个嘈杂的北京火锅，并通过自带的扬声器放着中国的的流行乐，而不是一个弦乐四重奏。

男人说话。 “我找了英语教师，”他说的是英语，非常缓慢。我瞧了一下名片。很显然，他拥有一个英语辅导公司附近。 “你一定要来参观我们的某个时候，”他说。 “你可以教英语。我们的收入很不错。”

一方面，我愿意相信他。但另一方面我知道这将如何结束。事情在刚开始的时候非常的好，非常的顺利，但很快我们就会开始吵起来，我说我给了他所有的一切，我的时间和能量，他会说我对他还不够好，为什么要他给我钱？我会伤心痛苦地离开，最后明白一直以来都是我的苍白的皮肤，诱惑了他，而不是其他的东西。

因此，不是，我点了点头，感谢了他，告诉他我会回去好好考虑一下的，之后我就回去吃我的食物了。我是不会轻易被行为花哨通过让服务员在呷哺呷哺餐厅递名片的男人所诱惑的。